Wolfe I
by KiraKiraLubs
Summary: It has been 3 years since elite trainer Amber defeated Team Rocket in the Kanto region, and life seems to have finally turned peaceful. Until she is requested to fake her own death and go undercover to investigate rumors of Team Rocket's reappearance in the Johto region.Along the way, she encounters her ex-best friend, Silver. Can she complete her mission without blowing her cover?
1. Prologue

Imagine a world filled with mystical creatures known as Pokémon. Just like with animals in our own world, the number of species of these creatures is practically endless, with more than 600 identified throughout the world and more discoveries made each day. These creatures are in fact like animals-they often survive in the wild and answer to natural laws such as the food chain, or they may also be kept as domesticated pets, much like your average cat or dog.

The things separating these creatures from your average animal, however, are the amazing powers they possess. These powers have been categorized into seventeen different elements: Water, Fire, Grass, Electric, Earth (Ground), Rock, Air (Flying), Neutral (Normal), Ghost, Fighting, Psychic, Bug, Ice, Poison, Dragon, Metal (Steel), and Dark. Each species of Pokémon can be classified in up to two of these elemental categories, even though some argue that some Pokémon may even qualify to belong in even more. Out of these seventeen different types, there are weaknesses, strengths, and immunities, which all different types possess when dealing with other Pokémon, even if they happen to be the same type. Some elements dominate over others, while some are equals; some elements have very few weaknesses and many strengths, while others have many weaknesses and few strengths.

With such power, the Pokémon species can be very formidable, even dangerous creatures if provoked. In addition to their power, most Pokémon also have intelligence arguably equal or surpassing that of humans. While plenty of Pokémon live in the wild, away from humans, some also inhabit urban areas, living off the wastes of humans in their own societies or even in co-existence with them. Pokémon who prefer humans often become pets who enjoy simple, spoiled lifestyles or even work mates in the office or construction field. Then for other Pokémon, they team up with humans for competitions known as Pokémon battles.

The humans whose Pokémon team up for such competitions are called trainers, and they aid in the growth of Pokémon. Trainers often roam lands searching for wild Pokémon to capture in capsule devices called pokeballs. Many trainers simply capture Pokémon to add to their own personal collection-to see who can catch the most different species, or some trainers may hoard a certain species or element of Pokémon. Other trainers study Pokémon extensively to better understand them. Other trainers may use their Pokémon in fitness competitions or even Pokémon Contests, where trainers show off how beautiful and skilled their Pokémon are. Then there are others trainers who use Pokémon to help make the world a better place. These people are often referred to as Pokémon Rangers, who do not actively capture Pokémon but instead tame them to help protect wildlife and ecosystems.

And lastly, there are trainers who actively battle Pokémon. In a Pokémon battle, two or more trainers pit their Pokémon to see who is the strongest and most skilled; it is a test between both trainer and Pokémon to see how strong the bond is between them, as well as how good of a strategy they may have. Thanks to Pokémon having elemental types, some Pokémon usually have a type advantage during a battle, but even then, it is possible for the underdog to win. These trainers, the true "trainers", often challenge places known as certified Pokémon Gyms as to win badges as proof of their skill. The Gyms often employ the strongest trainer of the city or town to be the leader; leaders are known for their skill, and as such, they do not give out their badges easily. Even stronger than the Gym Leaders are the Elite Four: four outstanding trainers who are the strongest of the region, so much so that they are considered legends of battle. While many trainers aim to challenge gyms, few have the skill or guts to go up against the Elite Four, as only the best of the best can win against them.

With all these types of trainers, plus even more who were not even mentioned, one could assume that the world including Pokémon must be full of excitement. It indeed must be a mystifying place to live alongside the interesting creatures known as Pokémon. In this world, however, not all is well; for where there is good, evil also lurks. Great power can either be used for the greater good or abused for heinous evil. Such is the work of nefarious organizations that use Pokémon to support their evils deeds.

The evil organization of this story is known as Team Rocket. With their powerful leader, Lord Giovanni, they took over an entire region known as Kanto. Team Rocket had been an organization for years, starting with Giovanni's mother, who passed the leadership down to her sole son. The organization's main focus at the time was to exploit Pokémon for profit, which they did all too well. For years, Team Rocket had encroached upon the region known as Kanto, and eventually, they had seized control over it almost altogether. A teenage girl who deserted Team Rocket once her superior had left her to die fought tooth and nail to bring down Giovanni as she learned of his plot for world domination in a totalitarian government, where military control would overpower the common people and corruption would spread like disease.

This girl's name was Amber Neilstone; her first endeavor in taking down Team Rocket was discovering a Team Rocket-run casino, which not only had rigged machines, but it also sold rare fox-like Pokémon known as Eevee for high prices. Not only were these Pokémon poached, but also the poor creatures were caged up in a dark basement, where they were crammed into small metal cages, starved, and left to live in their own filth. Team Rocket seemed to also experiment on some of the Eevee, who as a species are known for evolving into several different Pokémon in order to better suit their environments; this resulted in the deaths of many of these creatures.

With Team Rocket exposed for the first time, they continued to take over one of Kanto's largest business cities: Saffron City. Amber, along with her childhood friends and rivals, Red and Blue, were the only hope for the city. Eventually Amber was able to infiltrate the great Silph Corporation, known for its breakthrough technology, where she discovered Team Rocket's boss had taken the president of the company as a hostage. Despite having most of her Pokémon injured by the event, Amber challenged Giovanni to a battle on these terms: if she won, he'd have to relinquish control of the city, set the hostage free, and disband Team Rocket; if he won, she would be his prisoner along with the rest of the people of the city. In a harrowing battle, Amber's team of Pokémon barely escaped victorious, but true to the deal, Giovanni, realizing he was outmatched and true to the bargain, gave up his control of the city, recalled his organization, and fled into the darkness before authorities could arrest him.

Amber, being the type of trainer who collected Gym badges for the Kanto's Indigo Pokémon League Tournament, was in for a real shock whenever she decided to get her last badge. Due to the leader of the gym in Viridian City hardly ever being present, many trainers had taken the gym for a joke, and even the league decided that as long as a trainer had seven badges, they were eligible to participate in the event even though eight used to be the requirement. But Amber, being true to her form, decided to get the eighth badge, and to her luck, the gym leader was there: Giovanni himself. In the depths of his gym, Giovanni had been plotting his revenge against Amber as well as the second rise of Team Rocket. Thanks to the training Amber's team had been through since their last encounter with Giovanni, they were ready for him and pulled off a rather impressive victory, earning Amber not only her final badge, but somehow, she had managed to gain Giovanni's mutual respect for being a trainer of considerable skill. Giovanni, his pride utterly damaged from his humiliating loss, officially disbanded Team Rocket for good, apologized to Amber for the trouble, and left to not be found again.

Although Giovanni had never been captured, it appeared he was a man of his word as Team Rocket's influence practically vanished overnight. Soon, Kanto had returned to the peace it had missed for so long; people didn't have to lock their doors at night or have a curfew, and kids were allowed to play outside again. With Kanto finally peaceful, Amber decided that since Giovanni had commended her skill, she'd put it to the ultimate test: against the Elite Four. Tracking down the legendary trainers was not an easy task, but Amber was able to find the rookie member, Lorelei, in her home on the Sevii Islands off of Kanto's coast.

There, Amber had challenged the Ice-type specialist in her own backyard. Unfortunately for Amber, out of the six Pokémon Amber used, Lorelei accomplished defeating all of them with just one. And to add insult to injury, Amber's Pokémon had not even managed to land a single attack on that one Pokemon the Ice master had used. Defeated, Amber went away into serious training determined to learn from her mistakes. Over a course of almost half a year's constant hard work, Amber's team bonded and became like family to her as they were her only means of contact as she secluded herself from the outside world. Finally, when she felt ready for the rematch, Amber once more confronted Lorelei, and this time, she won.

Afterward, she sought out the junior ranked member of the Elite Four, Bruno the Fighting-type specialist, who happened to be training on a mountain on a different Sevii Island. There, Amber was able to win yet again. Feeling even more confident, Amber sought out the elite ranked member of the four, Agatha, the Ghost-type specialist. She was surprised to discover that Agatha had once been a friend of her own good friend, Professor Oak, and so, the battle took place in Pallet Town where Amber originally began her Pokémon journey. Though it was a harrowing fight, Amber won. With Agatha's advice, Amber then sought out the Champion of the Elite Four: the Dragon Master, Lance.

Knowing that Lance had been undefeated for years, Amber's team went to work once more honing their skills and perfecting their techniques while learning new moves and strategies in the process. Finally, Amber sought out Lance, and the two fought a tenacious battle near Amber's hometown, Viridian City. Both trainers were evenly matched for skill, and for the first five Pokémon of each trainer, it appeared that a tie was more than likely. However, once Lance and Amber were down to their final Pokemon, Amber proved victorious as her most loyal Pokémon, a Charizard, overtook Lance's first Pokémon, his Dragonite, in a very decisive victory. Afterward, Lance commended her team on their skill and even offered Amber a position on the four, amending it to be the Elite Five. Though in the end, she refused since she did not really want the fame. The two came into an agreement that since not many people watched the battle, they would keep quiet and let anything about him losing to her be just a rumor.

From there, Amber took a small break, and then her team went on to participate in Kanto's Indigo Tournament, which happened every three years. There, Amber made quite a few new friends as well as ran into some old rivals. One of her new friends happened to be a red-headed loner named Silver, who she later discovered was none other than the son of Lord Giovanni himself, as well as Amber's former Team Rocket boss, Executive Ariana. Despite his background, Amber seemed to ignore those facts, and the two ended up battling in the competition, even though in the end, Amber won. Amber went on to win the entire tournament, the final round being a match between Amber and her biggest rival, Blue. It was a tough fight, but in the end, Amber's Charizard beat Blue's Blastoise.

With already so much accomplished at the tender age of fifteen, Amber decided to take a break by opening up her own trainer school, where she could tutor others into becoming skilled trainers as well as Pokémon handlers. Her main philosophy was that friendship and understanding between Pokémon and trainer brought out the best in both, since it was the main thing that won most of her battles. With her excellent reputation, the school quickly became a high-rated facility and even became famous throughout the entire region of Kanto. She, along with her by then very best friend and top student, Silver, overcame many difficult challenges such as to improve their skills as trainers.

Amber worked on conquering her rashness and naïvety while Silver, with Amber's help, learned how to better deal with people. If anything, Amber was quite content to have Team Rocket out of the picture, as her new life seemed to unfold rather neatly. Everything was running oh, so smoothly.

Or so she thought…

Author Notes:

I don't own any copyrights to pokemon, and most of the characters are not mine. Though the protagonist, Amber, is my OC. Thanks for reading!  
Yeah, so here's the first portion of my EXTREMELY long pokemon fanfic. Like seriously, I started writing this thing...4? 5? years ago? (still not even remotely finished) When did they announce HeartGold and SoulSilver being released in Japan? Yeah, it's that old! At least these first few errm...volumes of it are. I admit this is a pretty boring prologue if you already have an idea of what pokemon is/the storyline from FireRed and LeafGreen. It does sorta introduce my main OC though, who is the main character. Oh, and the main secondary character, Silver. Yes, the rival from Gold/Silver/Crystal. And trust me, I was way on the whole Ariana x Giovanni = Silver long before the bandwagon really started. It's pretty obvious they're related.

Got some of my inspiration from this from my first ever dream of doing a Nuzlocke, though actually this wasn't based off any Nuzlocke run after all. I do admit that the plot sorta sticks with the games, though it does veer pretty off course as you go along. Eh, why am I even explaining? Oh yeah, and inspiration also from the manga! It's really awesome and definitely worth a read!

Anyway, to anyone who reads, I deeply appreciate it! Reviews are allowed, just please, no flaming or anything! Since I wrote this so long ago, I don't feel like going back and changing much, if anything! (This message was pretty much copy/paste off my deviantART).


	2. Silver's Intro

**Two years after Amber won the Indigo League and three since the disbandment of Team Rocket…**

She was at it again-talking about taking on gyms of the Johto region. Silver couldn't keep up with her at times. Well to be honest with himself, he hardly ever could keep up with his best friend, Amber. She was known for being reckless, impulsive, and impatient, though as a teacher it made her shine even more. Class was never boring, to say in the least. Still, Silver wasn't sure he liked the idea of Amber wanting to leave the school already to take an adventure in a different region

True, he was supposed to graduate come that April, and he was certain she had some sort of scheme to get him to become the teacher in her absence. He would refuse; wherever she decided to go, he'd follow just to make certain she didn't do something she'd regret along the way. Amber was naïve even though she was slowly learning the ways of the world more and more every day. He was actually a bit younger than her, but he was definitely as mature if not more so. She liked to have fun, and he understood it, and a part of him always did have fun with her around, but he, being the person he grew up to be, was always a little too cautious for her liking and had been called a "buzz kill" on occasion.

Before Amber showed up in his life, Silver had no real human friends. No one wanted to hang around him, if not for his odd appearance with his bright red hair or deep crimson eyes and the always stern, menacing look on his face, then for his reputation that always preceded him wherever he went. Also, his voice was a bit harsh sounding, and that didn't help matters with him making friends, either. But still, his reputation of being Giovanni's son killed any chance left of making human friends or being accepted in social circles. He knew just about every tale the rumor mill spun, and most of them were about how he was in Team Rocket and was generally a criminal although that was as far from true as possible. But even then, with Amber, it was different. She ignored all of that completely. He was grateful for it, unbelievably grateful. Before she came into his life at the Indigo League, he had been a boring nobody. Amber opened up a whole new door of opportunities for him; she even managed to clear his name with all the publicity she earned, though it still did little to squelch the rumor mill all the way.

Yes, Amber really was special to him-his very best friend, the only human he could rely on and confide in without being discriminated against. Her only problem was that she bored easily and moved around quite often from topic to topic, hobby-to-hobby, unsure what she really wanted to do in life. After all, although they were getting older, neither were still adults, even though Amber would turn eighteen and legally an adult in just a few more months. He couldn't believe it already had been that long since he first met her; then again, he couldn't believe it hadn't been longer. Although their current friendship started at the league, it at least felt like to Silver that they had been friends for almost a lifetime.

"Are you listening to me, Silv?" she startled him out of his thoughts as she looked at him expectantly. Her azure eyes were practically boring into his skull as she sat on the neighboring sofa, chin propped on her left hand, learning towards him in his chair. The only light in the room was that of the circular fireplace, which roared with warmth and light on the winter's night. The schoolhouse was just about empty thanks to the season.

"Sorry. I'm sorta spaced out right now," he admitted a little sheepishly. He had no clue what the hell she had just told him, and he had a feeling he might regret it later that he blanked out on her.

"Pretty early for you to be getting tired. But, I guess I'll let you go to bed," she seemed a bit disappointed in his feigned sleepiness, and he felt somewhat guilty if he'd oblige.

"Nah, it's alright. What time is it anyway?" He wasn't the type to wear a watch, and from his angle, the clock on the wall was out of view.

"9:30 according to that thing. Like I said: early," she somewhat teased as she glanced at the clock behind him.

"Hmph, that's not early for some people, you know. Normal people go to bed around this time," he joked back. He and Amber always joked around with each other. To some, it might have seemed like they were always fighting, but they knew better; they communicated well that way. Others thought it was flirting, and others still called it a farce meaning that neither was comfortable with the other. He and Amber just let them think whatever because deep down, both knew mutually it was just two good friends having a fun conversation. They kept each other's wits sharp, which was a good thing.

"Define normal, if you don't mind." She grinned at him.

"Definitely not either of us," he smirked back.

"Well, if that's the case, I don't care about normal since it doesn't pertain to us," she stated with finality.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, really. I mean it's not like anyone else is stuck in here anyway. Everyone else left before the blizzard came in, and we don't have any plans for tomorrow…Speaking of, we need firewood. I think I might go out and get some tomorrow.

"You think it'll be clear enough to do that? I mean, you don't even have Charry with you anymore." It had been a pretty bad February on the foothills of Mr. Silver, the mountain for which he was named and also the founding place of Team Rocket. Amber thought it ironic to build a schoolhouse there, and so she did-on the Kanto side of Mt. Silver.

The previous November, Amber let her first ever Pokémon, a fierce female Charizard, go into the wild for training in a secret location only known to wild Charizard as well as the overseer of the place who made very few exceptions for tame Charizard. The fact Amber let Charry go in itself astonished Silver; those two were as close as sisters, but after really hard thinking, Amber decided it best that Charry go out and improve herself further so she can fulfill her own dreams. Granted, Charry was welcome back at any time, and Amber awaited the day her Charizard would return satisfied from being one of the toughest of her species. But, he guessed it would be a long time before the large dragon-like flame lizard ever returned; Charizard were notorious for their will to battle stronger opponents. Most had large egos, and thus, they as a species usually tried to improve themselves constantly. Charry was no exception.

At the schoolhouse, Charry was on her best behavior, but Amber could tell her beloved Pokémon was not getting the proper attention she deserved nor the rigorous training she needed to remain undefeated. And so, Amber did what was best. Amber usually was pretty selfless, up to a huge fault-she'd put her life on the line for just about anyone, even if she didn't know whomever she was saving. It was her fatal flaw, by certain. He guessed it was her good nature that really drew him in the most. She was a sweet-natured person, even with her faults. And in turn, she knew his faults as well: mainly his dislike for other people thanks to all of the scorn he had to deal with most of his life.

"You forget I have other Pokémon, don't you?" she asked wryly.

He sighed, "No, but I'm just saying. You don't have your trump card any more. Charry had been undefeated for years; can you say that about any of your other Pokémon?"

"I'll have you know that Repede, Blitz, Gallop, Kaiser, and Speck all have a pretty good track record, too!" Amber always referred to her Pokémon by their nicknames. She always treated them as if they were people; Silver liked that about her, too. For the longest time, his own Pokémon was the only person in his life who was there for him.

"Whatever. Just let me know when you go. Sneasel and I will help too; that way maybe we won't run out as fast."

She gave him a faux glare, "And now you're calling us incompetent?" She feigned surprise.

"I'm just saying that teamwork comes in handy. Didn't you teach me that yourself?"

"Ah, touché, my friend," she grinned. "I was just testing you. Looks like you really pay attention to what I teach you, Mr. Top Student." She loved to rub that pet name in his face from time to time, and it embarrassed him. He knew that deep down, she was pretty proud that he was her best student, and that it was an unbiased opinion.

"You're _always_ testing me," he teased back.

"Well, as I was saying earlier, someone's got to take over the school when I'm gone."

"And who says I won't be going with you?" he didn't mean to, but he knew he was tensing up. He hated this subject the most.

She smirked, "We'll see when the time comes, alright? Who knows, you might have a flare for teaching that you don't yet realize! I know a lot of people could use you as an example."

"Example?"

"As in being a skilled trainer, actually paying attention in class, and not to mention being a damn good friend," she grinned.

Her compliments just about made him want to blush from embarrassment; before Amber came around, he never was given a compliment, and even to that day being praised by someone made him feel a bit uncomfortable. She was picking on him, but she was doing it in the form of compliments. True compliments were hard to come by from Amber as a teacher; hell, she complimented her Pokémon more than her students as she was pretty critical, but it made her a pretty good teacher being able to point out flaws and ways around them.

"Quit picking on me!" He grinned slightly.

Her expression turned serious, which surprised him. "I'm not picking on you this time, Silv. Sheesh. Can't a girl be serious once in a while with her compliments? I meant what I said completely! You might have what it takes to take over the teaching business when the time comes."

"Well, like you said, _when_ the time comes…" he ended the subject there. He didn't want to accept the possibility of her leaving him behind at all. He watched her back now, and he'd watch it then, too. They were a team, and he wasn't going to just let her run away from him…again. Though he did wonder at times if she was tired of him, too. It seemed more and more lately she had been trying to distance herself from him. It was subtle, but he knew it to be the case; he knew Amber well.

"What's got you down?" she could read him pretty well, too.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it. I guess I'll go ahead and get some sleep. I feel like being normal tonight," he decided.

"Oh, well. Night then. Sleep well, Silv. Hope you feel better in the morning," she gave him a small smile. He couldn't tell what was up with her, but the smile she gave him didn't look right.

"Thanks. Night, Amb," he dismissed the smile and began to trudge his way out of the common's area that they were in and into the living quarters to his room. Other trainers came and went as they pleased, but he permanently resided there with Amber though they literally lived on different ends of the house. She had her own room in the teacher's study. Though, since they technically lived together, Amber's father loved to pick on him and call him Amber's boyfriend. He just let the comment slide since his liked Amber's dad and thought him to be a pretty cool guy. Besides, he was a boy and a friend, so in all technicalities…but in any case, as long as he and Amber were close friends, he was fine enough.

"Oh yeah, Silv!" she caught up to him and got his attention.

"Yeah?" he didn't turn around to face her.

"Tomorrow morning I suggest you go ahead and get some training with Sneasel done. After school starts up again, I'll be giving finals, which will be battles. The top student gets completely qualified for the next Indigo League Tourney, and I'm sure you guys want to be in peak performance. I heard that the Ghost-type Misdreavus will be around while it's still dark out. It's your choice, though. But, if you do wanna go, my Pidgeot is on the table in his ball. Well, anyway, night," she walked off again.

He had forgotten about the finals that were approaching. Since Amber's school was accredited, she could allow one trainer to become eligible to enter the next Indigo League without winning any badges. But still, he kind of didn't want to wake up early and do training, which made him groan a little to himself. Sometimes, Amber did ask a bit much of him, but he took it in stride since in the end, she usually was looking out for him, and he didn't mind taking orders from her as long as he benefited. And so, Silver slid into bed, set his alarm for four in the morning, and was sleeping by ten.

The alarm's buzzer bored into his consciousness as he came to. He stretched, certain not to wake the Pokémon sleeping as his feet, Sneasel. He got dressed quickly in the dark room into the warmest clothes he had in reach, grabbed his favorite jacket, and slipped on some warm enough shoes. He suppressed a yawn as he walked from his room passed the guest rooms and into the common's area. He was surprised to see that Amber wasn't yet awake. Curious to see if she was even stirring yet, he slipped passed the common's area noiselessly and went to Amber's room.

He stood in the doorway of Amber's bedroom; from what he could tell, she was still fast asleep—a real rarity for her. For some reason, it was quite normal to see Amber awake by four in the morning on any given day. She always woke early and went to bed late; it was a rarity to see her asleep at all. That girl thrived on little sleep, and when he confronted her about it once, she simply told him she'd sleep when she was dead.

He grinned a little at the peaceful figure of his mentor and closest friend as she breathed deeply inward and exhaled in deep slumber. He dared not to enter closer to let her know he was leaving; he'd no doubt wake her if she were to sense his presence. If she wanted to sleep in while he took her advice, then he had no issue with that. He somewhat wished she'd sleep in more, actually; it'd be better for her health, even though the lack of sleep didn't seem to affect her like it would a normal person. She never showed signs of fatigue for some reason.

He gently closed the door without a sound, as to allow her to sleep peacefully without the cold in the house seeping into the room as quickly. She normally slept with her Pokémon, so he wasn't worried about her being too cold, but still he knew how she hated the cold. After that, he trudged down the narrow hallway which split into four directions: the north wing of the house, which was Amber's place, the south wing which was his and the guest rooms, the east which was the common's area or their living room which led to the classrooms, and the west which contained the kitchen and dining areas.

He went westward and looked at his feet to see his Pokémon partner was awake and yawning. He could tell his trusty sidekick was not too enthused about waking up this early, being the nocturnal Pokémon he was. But Sneasel listened to Silver obediently with no protest. Sneasel had been with Silver ever since Silver was just a little boy; Sneasel, being originally captured from Mt. Silver, was given to Silver as the only birthday present ever from his father, Lord Giovanni. Silver knew his father didn't care too much for him since he almost never spent time with his only child, but at least Sneasel was always there. Silver practically considered the Pokémon his brother, the way they grew up together and took care of one another.

Another thing they had in common were their bad reputations. Sneasel as a species were known for being violent, dangerous Pokémon. They were Dark and Ice dual types; his Sneasel was very competent with his elemental attacks, and he was very fierce in battle, but that was the end of that. Silver's Sneasel was a pretty kindhearted Pokémon who always looked out for his friends, especially his trainer. He always listened to Silver obediently, never faltering to try his hardest for his human friend; the little Pokémon had a very big heart to go with his sometimes-big attitude.

Sneasel stood about to Silver's knees, being the bipedal creature he was. The feather sprouting out of his right ear was almost as red as Silver's hair, and it had a white base; it felt just like plumage from a bird. The small, golden, ovular charm on Sneasel's forehead reflected with any light that shined on it, and it was well-polished, and the pokemon's red eyes were just as deep as his trainer's. His small mouth contained quite a number of sharp teeth, and two top fangs always slightly protruded even with his mouth closed. To go with those fangs were extremely sharp retractable claws on his front paws. They were long and reminded Silver of daggers, which could be sheathed and usually were sheathed when Sneasel was not in battle. On Sneasel's hind legs were shorter claws, but they were just as sharp. Sticking out of the pokemon's rump were three more of those feathers, which somehow helped the bipedal creature maintain his balance. And matching the ovular charm on his head was another ovular charm on his chest, right below his neck, which shown brilliantly in just about any lighting.

Silver looked up from his Pokémon to the table where the pokeball Amber had mentioned was waiting for him. Amber must have somehow known the blizzard conditions were over, since he looked out the window and sure enough, the moon was out and shining brightly on the white blanket of snow outside. The large bird inside of the pokeball would have no trouble at all flying him up the mountain near the summit of its vast terrain. He noted that the figure inside of the semi-transparent red top was resting fitfully, head partially out of its wing.

After double-checking to make certain he had everything he needed, he opened the front door of the schoolhouse and shuddered as a cold breeze wafted inside. He always found it a little ironic how his only Pokémon was an Ice-type when he despised the cold even more so than Amber. At least Sneasel jumped gleefully into the crunchy, ankle-deep snow. It seemed to energize the little guy. Silver grinned slightly at his pokemon's enthusiasm before recalling him to his own pokeball for the flight.

Silver then called Amber's Pidgeot from the pokeball. The bird appeared with a loud, startled shriek, apparently not expecting to feel cold air during its nap. It ruffled its feathers and hopped in the snow as Silver apologized to it and asked for a ride. Amber often let Silver borrow this Pidgeot, as it was the fastest way up the mountain. It was Amber's most dependable flier, being able to not only reach speeds up to Mach Two, but also to fly over a mile high in the air with very little problems. Silver would have questioned those statements, but seeming how Amber proved both of those to him while riding the thing, he believed that the Pidgeot would definitely get the job done.

That certain Pidgeot was special compared to most Pidgeot, in addition to being able to fly crazily fast and incredibly high. That Pidgeot had red and blue feathers rather than the standard beige. It was only on the pokemon's head feathers, which reminded Silver of hair for the bird, but it was still there. And, the pokemon's tail feathers were all a navy blue as well. Amber took pride in her Pidgeot, it being one of the first Pokémon she ever captured.

Without further delay, Silver climbed onto the giant bird's back; it was almost as large as him with an incredibly large wingspan, so it had very little problem carrying human passengers; it actually liked the task. Once securely on the pokemon's back, the bird kicked off the snow-covered earth and before long, the schoolhouse was nothing more than a speck among the blanket of snow, which encased the ground in the typical Mid-February winter near the mountain. Luckily, it still wasn't snowing, and Silver was certain it'd be a clear day as soon as the sun rose. Within ten to fifteen minutes, Silver had reached his destination on the mountain as Pidgeot let him off on a rock.

The thin, cold air made it a bit difficult to breathe at first, and the bird itself was panting for breath, its hot lungs producing smoke in the air. Silver thanked it as he recalled it back to its ball for a needed rest. It wasn't like he was going to be getting down soon anyway; the mountain for which Silver had been named was the tallest in the two regions. It was the mountain for which the Silver Mountain Range had been named, and it was definitely the vastest one. It was also at the border of the Kanto and Johto regions. Pidgeot managed to place Silver about one-third of the way up, from what he could guess. He heard a rumor that at the top of the mountain was diamond dust; it was so high and cold.

Silver let Sneasel back out as he figured that his current location was a great place to start training. There were still a few trees sprinkled across the landscape, so there had to be Pokémon about; Mt. Silver had a reputation of housing some of the strongest wild Pokémon in the region. Even Amber was cautious of the Pokémon who called the mountain home. Years ago, when Silver and Sneasel actually lived in a cabin on the mountain, they had many an incident with those Pokémon in which they had to fight to protect their home.

As they searched for life, they eventually found opponents-and plenty of them. The day's first opponent was a rather sturdy-looking Steelix, which seemed to not mind the cold air at all, despite it having a natural disadvantage against the cold, being a Ground-type. The colossal iron snake pokemon's steel body made battling a tricky business, since most of Sneasel's attacks were physical and his claws were ineffective. The battle itself lasted for quite some time; Steelix were always annoying opponents as they almost never refused to back down, especially on their own territory. They were pretty aggressive Pokemon as a species, who loved to bully smaller opponents, and Silver had to be honest with himself, there were very few living things bigger than a fully-grown Steelix. Still, after a battle that tested both trainer and pokemon's teamwork, the Steelix decided it was no match for Sneasel and the battle was won as it burrowed underground to escape.

The adrenaline going strong in his body, Silver and his Pokémon searched for their next opponent, walking towards the Johto side of the mountain. Silver managed to find a wild Misdreavus as his next opponent, just as Amber suggested. The Ghost-type was small, billowy like a dark cloud, and had red orbs around its lower portion. It liked to shriek at high pitches, which annoyed the hell out of Silver since it was a tactic used to scare them, and it made his ears hurt. Sneasel easily defeated it by having the type advantage.

By the time the battle was over, though, Silver could clearly make out the sun on the horizon. It must have already been over two hours since their arrival on the mountain, putting it at a little past six in the morning. He decided it was time for a light breakfast, so both sat down and ate a hastily packed meal. After devouring a sandwich or two, the duo continued their search for opponents; by then the sun was clearly up.

Silver was certain Amber was awake by then; he hoped that maybe if he did enough training, she'd cut him some slack or give him some extra credit in class, not like he really needed it. Besides, Amber hardly ever believed in giving just one of her students extra credit; she was fair like that. That and he was on break anyway, so he guessed maybe it didn't count.

The morning continued onward, and Silver and Sneasel fought an array of four more Pokémon. They decided to once again take a little break. Silver was pretty proud of Sneasel; he had gotten much stronger since Amber began teaching them battle methods. Sneasel was a good student as well since he observed everything and learned it easily. The sun was high in the sky, signaling it to be already nearing noon— probably only a few hours away. Even though it was cold, the adrenaline from the battles kept Silver feeling warm. Getting up, Silver gazed out into the Kanto direction to see nothing by clouds around him. He took a deep breath before getting ready to resume battling. By the end of his next battle, he realized that the clouds on the Kanto side were turning a bit too gray for his liking.

He quietly wondered if maybe the weather was suddenly changing. He really wished it would stay a clear day. A gust of wind whipped at him and chilled him to the bone despite his clothes. With it came the pleasant aroma of burning wood. He was surprised he could smell that as far up as he was, but he guessed maybe stubborn Amber had gotten firewood without him. The scent relaxed him and filled him with nostalgia as Silver continued his quest to find more opponents.

Eventually, after more battles, Silver trudged back towards where Pidgeot dropped him off on the Kanto side. The smell, which he had by then ignored, became stronger as he walked. He wondered why the hell he smelled the fireplace from up there, but he just shrugged it off as it being from the crisp day that it was. Silver walked at a leisurely pace, rather happy with the amount of training they had accomplished. He was considering wrapping things up for the day and letting Amber know that he finished training. Sneasel suddenly snapped him out of his train of thought as the little Pokémon scurried past him and out of sight.

Startled, Silver yelled, "Hey, where are you going in such a rush?" He felt somewhat amused that his Pokémon still has so much energy.

"Snee!" cried the Pokémon sharply after a few minutes of silence. Silver hadn't heard that tone of voice in a very long time; it was harsh, almost screech-like, and he detected a trace of fear in his pokemon's voice. The very sound immediately caught Silver off guard, causing him to freeze to the spot before Sneasel ran back to him and tugged on the hem of his trainer's pants, urging him to follow.

"Okay, okay. I'm coming. What's up?" he replied, trying to regain his composure. Maybe Sneasel just saw another trainer on the mountain or something. Maybe Sneasel caught a glimpse of Team Rocket, although Silver hoped desperately that wasn't the case. The Pokémon managed to unglue Silver's feet at least as Silver quickened his pace to see what Sneasel seemed so worried about. As he continued onward, slowly de-scaling the mountain as he went, he noticed the smell of smoke grew to a point where it was too strong to be pleasant any longer. Ahead loomed an ominously dark cloud, which they climbed beneath as they continued. Once under the cloud, Silver made out a trail of smoke reaching off into the heavens and a flickering accompanied by the crackle of a blazing flame from the ground.

As Silver got a better view of his schoolhouse by changing angles, his heart plummeted as the sight of the blazing building confirmed Sneasel's tone. "Shit!" he yelled, unsure what to do. He knew he shouldn't have built the house out of wood…Silver normally didn't curse, but the sight of the house going up in smoke completely caught him off guard. He automatically let out Pidgeot, jumped on the bird's back while Sneasel jumped onto his shoulder, and the three plummeted to the ground below as fast as sanely possible.

The bird gave a shriek as it realized how pressing the situation was and sped up its pace beyond the safe level of descent from their altitude. "That's right, hurry!" Silver urged the bird onward, knowing that if Amber were watching their stunt, she'd commend him on finally being as crazy as her. Within minutes, Pidgeot was close enough to the ground for Silver and Sneasel to jump and roll in landing while allowing Silver to recall the bird before it crashed beak-first into the snow. Silver's stomach was not feeling so well with the fast descent, but his nerves were worse.

If anything, at least Silver understood the tone of Sneasel's voice now. When they were young, Silver almost died in a house fire while his mother was away. If Sneasel hadn't been there, Silver would have been dead. Sneasel, being an Ice-type who was naturally not too enthused about fire, was deathly afraid of the stuff since he had sustained very major burns from saving his young master's life.

As soon as they hit the ground and came to a stop, the two began to cough as the grayish-black smoke poured out of the remainder of the schoolhouse. The fire had to have been going for quite some time, at least an hour or so already with it being a large house and all. Silver tried his best to keep his eyes open even though the smoke stung them and made them water. He was dangerously close to such a hot blaze, and he felt it sear his skin as if he were being sun burnt. All of the snow around the house had been melted, and the dead grass was burnt up as well. A vibrant orange flame with a blue center was licking away at the shattered window of the classroom at the center of the building.

Sneasel shrunk away in terror while Silver tried his best to survey the damage. All of his hard work was going up in smoke before his eyes. He had worked so hard on building that schoolhouse for Amber. Using his own experience and some workers, he had made the house for his friend who at the time he thought would never be able to walk again, thanks to an incident where she saved his life from a cave-in on Mt. Silver. He could only wonder what was going through Amber's mind as he was certain she was watching from the other side. The bad part about living so out of the way was how help usually arrived when it was too late, and the house at the point was pretty much no longer salvageable.

He backed away so he could breathe easier as he began to look for Amber. At least they could get through it together; perhaps they could live at her parents' place until they rebuilt. He had no worries that she didn't make it out all right. He didn't want to even consider the possibility of her still being inside; Amber may have been rash enough to try and save a few things maybe, but she knew more than most about fire, seeming how it was her favorite type of Pokémon and all. She'd be all right; he had no doubts about that. He figured he'd start out towards the other end of the building, where he figured she was surveying damage. The smoke and flames made visibility around the building too hard to tell.

Still, he needed to meet up with her; he needed to make certain she was all right. If she were burnt, he'd have to get her to a hospital immediately, no doubt. He rushed to the other side of the building, lungs screaming at the horrible smoke filled air he forced inside. Where he expected to see Amber, there was only empty space. Inside his head, the question, "Where's Amber?!" began to replay over and over as he rushed around the building once more just to make certain he didn't miss her somewhere. Maybe she was walking around the building right as he rounded the corner, or so he hoped.

Bad scenarios began to play in the back of his mind as he went round and round, calling for her. The images in the back of his mind played over and over like a reel in a movie theater as he realized that she was not around the building. Still, he absolutely had to believe nothing bad happened to her. It was plausible she already left to get help. That was very likely, after all. Who else would get the fire department, right? He did his best to convince himself that worrying wouldn't help anyone; that she could take care of herself. Still, "Sneasel!" he ended up calling his Pokémon to him.

Timid, but obviously worried, the Pokémon ran to his side, "Snee?" His voice was high-pitched, showing his terror of the uncontrollable flame.

"Find Amber! We have to find her! Track down her scent if you can!" Silver was still trying and failing to keep his cool, and he couldn't erase the bad feeling he had in his gut. He wished he could just wake up right there, as certainly this had to have been a nightmare.

"Snee!" replied the Pokémon with zest as he took off to the trees, scanning the nearby area.

Five minutes passed; it felt like an eternity and a second all in one, and both returned without Amber or a trace of her. With a voice even he couldn't recognize, Silver surprised himself by saying aloud, "She's still inside…I can just feel it." He said it quietly, but he knew Sneasel heard him over the roar of the flames. Determination swept over Silver. "We have to save her! Maybe she's trapped. Maybe we still have a chance!" Silver stated fiercely as he balled his fists.

He approached the flames, which were consuming his own room by then as he dared to go closer than he was comfortable. He tried his hardest to wonder where she would be if she were still inside. If maybe she were in his room…it was the only room left that wasn't yet decimated. Unsure what to do, it took his self-control to keep himself from flinging himself into the burning building. Maybe Amber had gone for help, and Sneasel just couldn't smell anything because of the smoke.

He began to frantically call out her name, hoping it'd reach her over the roar of the flames if she were still inside. He worked his way around the building until he reached her room. Smoke still poured out of it, but it seemed like the damage was just about over. The walls looked brittle, as they seemed to be nothing more than charcoal of what was left, anyway. He realized with an even more sinking feeling that this was it; the fire was started in her room. He even noticed that her window, though shattered and melted, appeared to have been open. "Amber, can you hear me?!" he yelled into the smoke that poured out of her room.

He inhaled the black fumes, coughed, and then tried again. There was no answer but the sound of crackling flames. With his heart near bursting, he turned to Sneasel. "We need to put out this fire!" He then let Pidgeot out of the pokeball. "Go get help!" he commanded as the bird left knowing what needed to be done. It was just he and Sneasel at the burning building.

Silver turned to Sneasel, "Okay, try your Icy Wind. Maybe the cold air will help smother the flames!" Silver knew it was a long shot, but he had to do something.

Sneasel complied, but the cold wind only seemed to infuriate the flames even further, causing them to spread as a room caught fire again.

"No good. Try again!" We need to get Amber out of there!" Sneasel tried again, but the flames were only turning more violent.

The two refused to give up, even though they were doing more harm than good. Eventually, the fire department did arrive with a squad of heavy-duty Water-type Pokémon. By then, most of the schoolhouse was little more than a frame with a ton of smoke pouring out.

The firefighters commanded the Pokemon-Squirtle, Wartortle, and Blastoise-to use their water attacks as a group to kill the flames. With the water pressure from the Blastoises' canons, the walls of Amber's room crumbled away inside. Unable to stand by and watch any longer, Silver yelled at the firemen, "My friend's still inside of there, damn it!" He rushed over to Amber's bedroom, calling out for her, hoping somehow he'd get a response.

He still had hope; he couldn't-he refused-to believe that she was claimed by the inferno. After all, she was the fire-type specialist. He already was certain it wasn't her who started the fire, even if it did come from her room. He approached the room, scared but determined as he stepped through a crumbled wall.

"Hey, kid! Come back here! It's dangerous! We'll find your friend, just let us stop the fire first!" some man yelled, but Silver didn't quite comprehend him, so he ignored him.

Silver began to comb the charred debris of the room, starting from where the outer walls caved in. Everything of hers was utterly burned, and even though the water had cooled off the floor and whatnot, he still felt pressing heat. In the back of his mind, he also subconsciously worried about her Pokémon. He wondered if the fire claimed them, though he hoped otherwise. After more searching, a horrible, unfamiliar stench reached his lungs. His nose at first completely bypassed the scent, but his lungs almost rejected the air they breathed as it reached them. He was certain that after the first inhalation of that, he was no longer breathing, but he didn't concern himself too much with that at the moment, anyway. He had dropped down to his hands and knees to sift through debris as the smell, which lingered in his body even after exhaling, made him want to faint and vomit.

A few feet away from him under a slab of burned plywood was an ominously black object. It was the cause of the stench; he didn't know what to make of it at first. His mind was surprisingly blank, not registering whatever the grotesque object was in front of him. The only things he was focusing on were breathing and not collapsing on the spot. In his heart, which plummeted to his stomach, he knew the object was something that would change his life forever, but his head didn't want to comprehend what it was. Surely, it was just a nightmare and he'd wake up at any time, after all.

Silver closed his eyes and tried to rid himself of the scene in front of him and the horrible smell; it was his first encounter with the scent of charred human remains. In that instant, it all clicked, and he had a moment of pure comprehension. The object was all that remained of whomever was once alive. He begrudgingly looked at the object again to make out features he had once overlooked. The most obvious was that the part closest to him had once been possibly a head; the rest of the body was buried under the wall, but the head was looking straight up at him, at least if it still had eyes it would have been.

Silver was still conscious, but his mind blanked out again from there on out. It was as if he were watching things as merely an observer, not someone actively involved in the scene before him. He was certain at some point he screamed something, but maybe it was just his mind playing a trick on him. He didn't recognize the voice that screamed, more or less. He could feel foreign objects on his face, tears that rolled down freely on his cold cheeks, though he didn't remember allowing himself to cry; Silver never cried.

A firm pressure on his shoulder clamped down on him; it turned out to be the firefighter who warned him not to run into the building. "Let's go, son. There's nothing we can do for your friend now." The man dragged Silver to his feet. Silver practically had to be carried away he was so numb.

"Amber…" he managed to mumble, as though just saying her name would return the flesh on her corpse and the air to her charred lungs, as if speaking her name would lift this curse and allow her to materialize out of thin air. Like it would cause him to wake from the nightmare he suddenly found himself living. He didn't even care if he found himself back on the mountainside. Things seemed so much more real only a few hours before.

As he and the man exited the room, the remaining wall came crumbling down from where they previously stood. The wall buried the charred face of Silver's former best friend. He couldn't see her face any more, but the smell was still there, and more so, when he closed his eyes the second time, it loomed brightly on his conscience.

He vaguely watched as workers put the rest of the house out, an ambulance arrived, and the body was retrieved. He rode back somehow to Viridian City. He didn't know how he got back, but it took hours. There were hours of time where he had blacked himself out while still being awake.

Somewhere, on the border of the nearby woods, yet far enough to be undetected, a lone girl watched from the back of her giant dog, Repede. She hugged the dog tightly as the scream of her ex-best friend reached her ears. She didn't even know a human could make that sound, much less Silver. She grimaced as she directed the Arcanine away from the scene of her own crime, from her former life. With her work done, the girl now known as Wolfe rode out while silently saying goodbye to her former life as Amber for the last time.

Author's Notes:

First and foremost, thank you if you actually read this! Here's the second part to my Pokemon fanfiction. So this chapter is one of the reasons this fanfic is rated Teen.

So yeah, here's the intro to my portrayal of the character, Silver. He is totally owned my Nintendo, though his spin on his personality is more of my creation. I tend to prefer the manga version of him over the "rival" version in the video games. He's going to be a pretty major character in my fanfic, so just putting that out there. Also introduced is my main character OC. Don't worry, you'll see MUCH more of her later; after all, this story is mostly about her.

Copyright stuff: I don't own pokemon or any of the characters portrayed in this writing (minus Amber).

Also, for those wondering which pokemon Amber was refering to earlier by nickname: Repede = Arcanine, Kaiser = Marowak. Speck = shiny Lapras, Blitz = Jolteon, Gallop = Rapidash. I will be adding a character bio for Wolfe I, and they shall be all added in there if you'd like to read further about them (as all but Repede are actually major characters in this portion of the fic). And that bio shall be on my deviantART. Just see my profile if you want to look it up.

Questions, concerns? Feel free to review or even PM me if you'd like. I don't plan on changing much if anything, but I do appreciate feedback as long as you don't flame me. Once again, I wrote this about 4 years ago...soo yeah. My apologies if someone may feel like it's too long. If you have problems with long stuff...I don't really recommend this fic since most chapters are around that length, though there are quite a few that are shorter/longer.

Oh, and the ****** means a passage of time and - means a bit of a point of view change, just to clarify. And I guess that's it! Enjoy!


	3. Wolfe's Intro - Christmas Special

**Two Christmases Later…**

I tossed and turned in my bed aware of a heavy, purring presence sitting directly on my ribs. As I came to consciousness, I realized I was lying on my side, facing the door to my mid-sized bedroom. Groaning, I stretched my legs while the figure lying on me stopped purring, got up, and joined my side. Cracking open an eye, I peered into the face of my only best friend left, Pepper the "Glumbreon". Blinking contentedly, he butted his head with mine before walking to the foot of my bed, jumping off, and exiting stage right.

In the adjacent room, I could hear stirring showing that my mother must have just woken up as well. Pepper was actually probably the one to do that. Looking at my alarm clock, it showed eleven in the morning. Stretching, I got up and left my room to head to my mother's room. "Morning Mom," I yawned, rubbing sleep from my eyes.

"Morning, Amber. Merry Christmas." She half-heartedly yawned back. Jumping down from her king-sized bed, as she was short, she approached me to give me a hug.

Naturally, I hugged her back. I was still fighting sleep.

"So, what do you want to do for breakfast? We can do funnel cakes like we did year before last?"

I sighed, not really in a Christmassy spirit. "I think I might just make some lunch since its almost noon anyway, if that's alright."

"Oh, sure." She said a little downtrodden. It wasn't her fault we were living in exile this year, in fear for our lives.

The town we currently resided was a few miles northwest of Vermillion City. Therefore, it was a rainy, clammy Christmas. Taking out a frozen pizza, I preheated the oven in our small kitchen. I then sat down on a small stool, waiting for the slow oven to heat. Pepper joined me, rubbing against me, purring as I stroked his jet-black fur.

It was then that I had gotten lost in thought. Christmas two years ago was so different. It was so enjoyable; I had everyone I loved the most with me, minus my father who was always working. All of my Pokemon and Silver, all gone now. My Pokémon I'd see again once I was safe. Silver? Maybe never again in my lifetime. I sighed, going back to Christmas two years ago.

I was back in my old room, in the house I grew up in. I visited my parents for Christmas; Silver decided to join me that year. My neon blue wall clock ticked, as I slowly became conscious. On my feet, I felt the very warm fur of my Flareon, Neelix. Next to me, Pepper was my pillow. On my other side, my Jolteon, Blitz, was sleeping soundly. I groaned, knowing it was Christmas morning, so I should get up and do something productive.

Stirring, my three Pokémon woke all giving me the evil eye. I smiled back lazily, sitting upright in my twin-sized bed. "Come on guys, give me a break. It's Christmas." I petted them all.

Realizing it was Christmas, they all had a sudden change in attitude and cleared a path for me so I could easily get out of bed.

"Heh. Change in attitude, huh?" I laughed quietly, aware that my mother and Silver were still sleeping in their respective rooms. "Hey, how about we do something special today?"

They looked at me with inquisitive eyes. Pepper tilted his head in confusion.

"Remember how we used to have funnel cakes when I was a kid, Pep?" I asked my Umbreon-Glameow hybrid.

"Nyao," he nodded his head.

"I know Dad used to make them, but how about we go ahead and surprise Mom and Silver with some of our own?" I smiled. "Old time holiday tradition!"

"Nyao!" replied Pepper happily, knowing how good Dad's funnel cakes used to be. Neither of us had them since I was 9, my last Christmas at home together with my entire family. The following June, my birthday month, I left to be a trainer. I heard Dad hadn't made funnel cakes since. He tried to be home for Christmas that year, but with rumors of Team Rocket resurfacing, he'd been too tied up to return home. _Oh well, maybe next year. _I had thought back then.

Slipping quietly out of bed, I first headed to my closet to change into some regular clothes. Silver would have to catch me dead if he'd ever want to see me in my pajamas. Taking out a nice long-sleeve shirt with the shuriken logo of my favorite metal band and some flattering black jeans, I quickly got dressed before sneaking silently through the hallway, where I could hear my mother quietly snoring from her bedroom. She always complained about my dad snoring but never realized she did it herself.

As for me? I didn't snore. Anyone could ask Silver. Silver didn't snore either, but his Sneasel sure did. I could hear the clawed pokemon snoring away. Entering the living room, I shook my head as I saw Silver fast asleep on the sofa. We had a guest bedroom, but he insisted on sleeping on the sofa. He said he slept better on the sofa. At his feet was the sleeping Sneasel, curled up in a ball.

Restraining a sigh, I realized that Silver, who was a light sleeper, would more than likely catch me awake and cooking. Looking away from him for a second, I marveled at the tree he got for my mother that year. It was really lovely, and he even decorated it, more or less with my help. He wasn't one for celebration, but after a year or so of my protesting, he gave in and decided to celebrate that Christmas with my family, since he had none.

Moving to the kitchen, my three Pokémon were already waiting for me to begin cooking. Obviously Pepper had explained to them the wonders of funnel cakes. Grinning as they sat at my feet waiting patiently, I closed the kitchen double doors and turned on the overhead light. Deciding to take a brisk tour of outside, to see if maybe I could possibly cook out there instead, I headed for the outside door, opened it, exited, and closed it firmly behind my Pokémon and me.

It was your typical Christmas morning. The sun was just rising above the horizon. It was a nice, pleasant cold if that made any sense. The air was dry without a hint of precipitation. Really, that made me a little disappointed, but it rarely snowed in our small town outside of Viridian. Besides, back at the schoolhouse it would be a very white Christmas anyway. Walking outside, barefoot, like I normally did, I felt at peace, so I decided to maybe watch the sunrise before cooking. It'd be perfect cooking conditions out here, which made me happy.

All I'd have to do was get my portable stove burner from my room and set it up. Or, I could always use my Charizard, Charry's tail over a skillet. That sounded like a better option in all actuality.

I reached down to my belt, but I realized I didn't put any pokeballs on there, so that meant I'd have to wander back to my room to grab her pokeball. Groaning at this realization, I trudged back to the side door of the house that led to the kitchen; Neelix, Blitz, and Pepper followed in my wake. What happened next was the bad part.

I tried the knob to find that it wouldn't turn. I had locked us out of the house on Christmas morning. I groaned and rolled my eyes and looked down to my posse. "Uh, guys, don't be mad, but I just locked us out the house…" I trailed off.

They looked at me with incredulous faces. Their trainer and friend, lock THEM out the warm house?!

Of course it was no big deal. Silver and my mom were both inside, so they could easily let us back in, but that would ruin the surprise of it all. Sighing, I sat down on the front step of our garage. "Now what do we do? I need Charry and the ingredients so I can make the funnel cakes. I wanted it to be a surprise for Mom and Silver too…" I sighed.

_Come on Amber. You're the master at improvising, _is what I thought. "Well, I guess we can make the most of this. The sun's rising. How about we all go for a walk? Lot of memories at this place." Our house was on an acre of property, most of which was turned into a fenced in back yard. By our house was another three acres of land with trees scattered across it.

I began to walk onto the property next to our house; my companions followed in step next to me-Pepper on my right, Blitz and Neelix on my left. The way we were walking was facing the rising sun, so it really was perfect. Pointing to the back yard on my left, I stated, "That, is where Repede and Gallop grew up. You'd be surprised, but they were actually family pets. Repede was still just a Growlithe then," I commented to Blitz and Neelix. Both were Eevee rescued from Team Rocket, so they wouldn't know this place. Pepper though, he grew up here, and he remembered very well the days from before I became a trainer. We continued walking in silence, finally stopping in the middle of the field where a large tree stood.

I looked up at the tree and smiled. "This is where I hung out most as a kid. With my friends. We used to have a tree house in this tree. It was the fort for our gang," I laughed, "Figures, I was the leader of it, too. Three friends and me built the tree house from scratch, using whatever wood we could find. Dad helped donate wood too when he realized what we were doing. Man, it was so fun making that thing."

My Pokémon went up to the tree, investigating the so-called fun spot. I sighed, "Sadly, the month before I became a trainer, a rogue storm came and destroyed it. My three friends, Blue, Green, and Red and I all spent a week cleaning up the debris. It was fun while it lasted though." I smiled, thinking back to the "good ol' days".

I sat down on the swing, which hung between two sturdy branches. "This is the only thing that survived. Man, those were the days though guys. Just being a kid, having fun, and causing minor mischief wherever we went. We were inseparable friends, the four of us, back in those days."

"I wonder how they're all doing now…I know Red is away in Mount Silver, training. Blue was pretty bummed when I defeated him a few years ago. And Green," I sighed, "I haven't heard from Green in years. Ever since she moved away to Hoenn to be a trainer there."

My Pokémon all looked at me curious, expecting to hear more. I grinned back, happy to relate a bit of my past. "You guys didn't know that we were all friends back in the day, did you?"

Two of the furry faces shook their heads no. Pepper only knew half of this since he was scared of the outdoors then. "Well, yeah. We were a street gang back in the day. I was the one in command. Red was my right-hand guy. He was the sensible one, always keeping his eyes on the big picture of things. Blue, well you guys already can have an idea of Blue's personality from when we battled him," I referred to Blitz and Neelix. "He was the hot-head, just like me. We were best of friends, and worst of rivals all at the same time. He'd always challenge me for leadership, but I was always more level headed in the end. And as for Green, she was my partner in crime. She was like my sister. She taught me a lot of what I know about the world. She was kind, had a lot of common sense, and had a devious streak that I picked up on. Most of our pranks were her invention. She taught me how to improvise, which proved useful when I became a trainer." I smiled.

"Ah, I kinda miss those days. But," I said, getting up, getting ready to walk more, "I wouldn't trade where I am now for anything. Back then, the day before we all became trainers, we broke up the gang. We each vowed to become the best trainers around, and one day, we'd all meet up again and have a battle royal. It's been almost ten years now, and really, I can't say I'm ready for that quite yet. The day we all meet again, I want to be ready to take them on. All of them have the goal of defeating me, especially now that we earned all those titles. I'm happy with the schoolhouse for now, but, you know guys, I'm really considering exploring the Johto region sometime. Then maybe after that, Hoenn. I guess that'll all come in due time though," I grinned at my Pokémon as I began to walk further into the wooded acre.

We walked some more, until I stopped at a barren tree with an arrow sticking straight out of it. I laughed at the scene. "I can't believe that's still there." I marveled to myself. My Pokémon looked at me curiously, "When I was eight, my mom bought me a bow for Christmas. That arrow is the result of me practicing with it." I laughed.

"Blue and I were practicing one day, and I ended up hitting the tree instead of the target. Neither of us could pull it out the tree, so we left it. Man, that's something I could make stories about when I'm older." I laughed. "Not that I will," I snorted.

By now, the sun was fully in the sky, but it was still early morning-maybe around nine. Only then did I really realize how cold I was. My clothes were long but offered little in warmth. My feet were numb as well. Turning around, I stopped dead in my tracks as I spotted Silver about ten feet away, silently sneaking up on me.

I glared at him, "Wow, really? How long were you following me, and when were you going to announce your presence?"

He approached me and grinned, still in his "sleep clothes" which really was more like a jacket, some long pants, and his black shoes. "Since you left the house. You seemed pretty content being alone with your Pokémon, so I was just going to leave you as is."

"Then what's up with the stalking me part?" I asked jokingly.

"You're the one making that assumption," he shot back.

I grinned. Silver and I always joked around with each other. Blue, Red, and Green may have all been my closest childhood friends, but Silver was my very best friend. "Well, I have reason though. You were like ten feet behind me," I glared back.

"Whoa now, easy with the Scary Face, girl. I was just following you to see if maybe you'd find a solution to the being locked out problem without waking your mother and getting scolded. Oh and by the way, what's a funnel cake?" he asked honestly intrigued.

"You don't know what a funnel cake is?" I asked kinda shocked.

"Uhh, no."

"You've never been to a carnival, or a fair, or, or, something?" I was grasping for straws.

"No. Unlike you, I haven't done too much traveling, especially where people congregate."

"Antisocial smart ass." I replied cockily. "It's food."

"I got that part," he cut me off.

"Let me finish! It's like; I don't know…It's kinda hard to explain. It's like a doughnut, only not in that shape. It's fried like a doughnut though, and kinda tastes like one-only it can be crunchy. You put powdered sugar and cinnamon on it. It's usually a festive food."

"Oh, and you know how to make this?" he asked in disbelief.

"Despite whatever you think you know about me, I _do _know how to cook. I just know a good thing when I see it, and not having to cook every meal sure is a nice change," I smiled.

"Hmph. I don't trust you. _You_ cooking? I remember that burn you got on your arm when you insisted on helping me that one time."

I remembered the equal-mark shaped scar on my arm quite well. "That was a minor incident! Don't judge my cooking on that alone!" I scoffed.

He smirked, "Well, I'm just saying. I wasn't the one who had second-degree burns on my arm from taking some food out of the oven."

"Oh, hush you. Before I make Neelix change that."

"It still won't be from taking food out of an oven, and besides, I know it's an empty threat anyway. You wouldn't dream of hurting me," he smiled his most charming smile.

I sighed, "Ugh, I hate you when you're right. Now shut up." Somewhere during the process of this conversation I began to shuffle my feet on the spot, trying to regain some kind of feeling in them.

Silver, just catching on to this, then took me in at face value and sighed. "Long sleeves, jeans, no jacket, no socks, nor shoes. How typical. You must be freezing."

"I'm fine, thanks" I replied, giving him a playful evil eye.

"Whatever. I was going to offer you my jacket since I'm such a nice friend and all, but that's cool. I'll just keep it for myself then."

"That's fine with me," I playfully punched him in the arm as I walked past him and back towards the house. He caught up with me and followed in step. My Pokémon barely gave him enough room to walk.

"Sheesh, must you be so stubborn all the time?"

"Moi? Stubborn? Only as stubborn as you, Silv" I shot back, smirking at him. He towered over me, but I didn't feel the least bit intimidated by him.

At this, he grabbed my shoulder, forcing me to stop and glare at him. "Yess?" I asked, turning around to face him.

He took off his jacket and handed it to me. "Here, take this. You're making _me_ cold." I noticed he had a thin short-sleeved shirt underneath. Silver rarely ever took off his jacket, so I never knew what kind of shirt to expect on the rare occasion that he did. Knowing he'd be freezing, especially since he had less cold tolerance than me-which is saying something-I knew I had to refuse.

I shook my head. "I can't take that. You'd freeze. Thanks for the offer though, Silv. You need it more than I do," I grinned, handing him back the jacket he had forced into my hands.

At this, he sighed and glared at me. "Amber Allison Neilstone. Take. My. Jacket. Now." He said, trying to order me to take the jacket, which he shoved back at me.

"Silver. Whatever your middle and last names are. I. Won't. Take. Your. Jacket. Don't even try to intimidate me, buddy. Not gonna work," I smirked back, shoving the jacket back into his arms.

"Gah. Why must you be so stubborn? Seriously, I'll be fine. Just take my jacket, don't worry about me, and shut up," he said.

I threw my hands up in the air, signaling that there was no point in arguing anymore. "Ugh, fine. I'll take the damn jacket and shut up." I took the jacket, slipped it on, and briskly began walking towards the house, leaving Silver in my wake.

I did have to admit the jacket was really warm and comfortable. This had to be the third time since I've known Silver that he actually loaned me his jacket too. He always wore it. I don't know why, but he hardly ever took it off, even when sleeping or if it were too hot outside. I guessed it meant something to him; he was just so closed of a case that I couldn't even begin to crack that one.

As he jogged to catch up, I ignored him, acting the part of "shut up" well. "Slow down, will you?"

I kept walking, acting like I ignored him. At this, he ran in front of me to block my path. I tried to walk around him, but he grabbed me by my shoulders once more from the front in order to stop me. Oh, how I hated how he had a height advantage over me.

"Amber. Look at me, please. Why are you so mad at me?" he got in my face, making sure I couldn't ignore him.

"You told me to shut up," I smirked back. "So I am."

He sighed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to be rude if I was. You know me; I suck at communicating with people. I didn't mean to make you mad at me or anything."

I sighed in turn, knowing I was being a bit too harsh on him, and I should stop my game right there. Giving in, I looked up at him, "Fine, fine. Sorry. I know you didn't mean anything by it. I guess I'm just in a mood right now or something."

"You hate losing." He grinned.

Realizing how I loved how he always found the exact words to convey things properly, I smiled back at him, admitting defeat. "Yeah, I do. You know me too well, friend." He really looked cold without the jacket on. I felt a tinge of guilt build up inside of me. I took off the jacket and handed it back to him.

He began to protest, but I stopped him by putting it on him myself. "Thanks, but you really need it more than me. I appreciate it though." I smiled. His arms really were freezing already, more so than mine I thought.

"You're doing this so you win, aren't you?"

"Nah, nothing of the sort," I smirked. "Maybe for once I'm just trying to be a good friend," I replied.

"Humph. That can't be the case."

"You saying I'm a poor friend?" I was certain I had cut him off before he could finish his sentiment, but he left himself wide open.

"Now _you_ didn't let me finish," he responded. "I was going to say, you don't need to try. You already are the best friend I could ask for," he smiled.

I felt really touched by that, happy that I had such a close friend. "Heh, thanks Silver. Merry Christmas." I said as I hugged him.

"Merry Christmas to you too, Amb." He hugged me back. We stayed like that for a good minute or two, just happy to be in the presence of a true friend. I smiled, knowing that I had everything I wanted for Christmas right there: my furry Pokémon companions, to be home with Mom, and most importantly, to be with my truest pal, Silver.

After finally letting go of each other, I glimpsed Silver blushing out of the corner of my eye, but dismissed it to him being cold for his own dignity's sake. Of course I knew he had a crush on me. It was obvious. I didn't think he knew it himself though, so I left that up to his own demises. I was perfectly content just being his friend. Besides, it was nice to live in that moment for a few minutes. I knew that soon enough, I'd never see him again…

Together, we headed back to the house, where we found the door unlocked, and my mother glanced at us as she then began to scold me for going out there with no shoes on.

A beeping noise brought me back to present time. Realizing the oven was finally heated; I took my pizza and shoved it into the oven; Pepper moved to not be in the way. I glanced down at my left arm, which still had the burn scars from the cooking incident. I smiled, remembering how even though Silver chided me and scolded me, he was the one who helped me dress the burn and made sure I was going to be okay. We always had each other's backs, I realized a bit wistfully.

Sitting down again, I continued where I left off. We went inside the house; Mom was about to cook some breakfast. I told her how I wanted to make funnel cakes just how Dad used to make them for Christmas. Just the thought surprised her and made her happy, so she agreed to wait for me to make funnel cakes, "but only if you make them before eleven," she responded before ordering me and Silver to sit in the living room on the sofa, where she covered us with two really large, warm blankets fresh from the dryer.

Silver and I never had a problem with being up close and personal with one another. I guessed it was thanks to the fact that we were such good friends, but he never minded sharing a large chair with me, or sitting next to me in close proximity. I just about melted into the blankets we were under. I felt myself drifting off for a nap too, as soon as I started to feel my feet wake up that was.

Silver seemed to appreciate the blankets too, since he wrapped himself into a cocoon with them. Once he noticed me falling asleep though, he put his arm around me for support and leaned me against him, so I could use him as a pillow. I remembered him wrapping his jacket around me too, commenting on how freezing I was, before I drifted off for a nap. It was a good thing, too, because I had a feeling if I would've been left alone, I would have taken a head dive into our coffee table.

He made a pretty good pillow, and my internal clock seemed to work well since about half an hour after I fell asleep, I came to. I was still leaned against Silver, whose arm I was using as a pillow before I fell asleep; only he had changed the way he was sitting some. I was leaned soundly against his chest now, both of his arms holding me, adding extra warmth. His head was rested on my shoulder, where I could hear him breathing deeply, soundly asleep.

I always knew he was protective of me. I've had a few close calls with him in the past. Starting with when I almost sacrificed myself to save him back at that cave. From there, I had walking pneumonia once, where he nursed me back to health. There was the burn incident, which really wasn't too bad. Then there was a few winters ago, when I had hypothermia.

That was a disaster all in itself. A Tentacruel was stuck in the pond near the schoolhouse, and it was slowly freezing to death. Me, being impulsive me, jumped in to save it; where it soundly stung me on the hip, temporarily paralyzing me from the waist down. Silver, at the time, was fast asleep.

I spent what felt like the next twenty minutes or so in the cold water trying my best to stay afloat, slowly going out of conciseness from the cold. Luckily, my Lapras, Speckle, found me and saved me. As for the Tentacruel, Silver caught it and saved it, releasing it back to more tropical waters. For the next two weeks, I was in and out of conciseness as my body temperature dropped dangerously low and wouldn't rise or stay high. Silver tried everything in his power to keep me warm and tried his best to make the paralytic properties of the Tentacruel sting wear off; it didn't help that a blizzard had blown in making it impossible to get me proper medical attention. I guessed that looking back on that, I could see why he would be so concerned about me being cold outside on that day. He spent weeks trying to get my body temperature to stay normal. I found it kind of ironic really. I loved fire types the most, and there I was freezing.

Knowing that if I were to move, I'd wake Silver, I stayed like that for a little while longer, enjoying the combined warmth of the blankets, the jacket, and Silver. Knowing I'd have to get up to cook though, I sighed before hugging Silver; truly sorry I'd have to wake him again. Silver rarely slept soundly, so seeing how content he was in his sleep at the moment really made me pity him. He hugged me back as he woke up, and we sat like that for a while, sleepy, not really wanting to get up.

Finally, I gave in to my hunger, which was small but still there, and hugged Silver tighter before softly saying, "Hey, I gotta get up, but you are free to go back to sleep if you want. You can even use my bed; it's warmer than the sofa."

He yawned quietly before responding, "Nah, its okay. You know it's hard for me to go back to sleep once I'm up. That was a good nap though. I'll supervise your cooking if you want."

We unwrapped ourselves from each other and I grinned playfully, "Fine, I guess. But only if you promise not to get in my way!"

"Humph. This coming from _you_ of all people?"

"Speak after you eat my cooking, m'kay?"

"I still don't trust it. You might try poisoning me for all I know."

"Well fine, don't eat my food. It'll be more for my mother, the Pokémon, and me. I bet your Sneasel will like it at least." I teased. Sneasel had popped his head up and grinned eagerly, as if more than willing to eat both his and his trainer's portions.

"You win, this time. I'll stay out of your way, but I'll be keeping a close eye on the ingredients."

I laughed. "Fine, fine. Let's go."

From there, our Pokémon joined us, and I proceeded to make funnel cakes. Two years later, I don't recall exactly what went down in the kitchen, but I remember a lot of laughing, smiling, a few curt jokes, and overall horse playing between me and Silver. The funnel cakes were made, and they were delicious. Even Silver bowed to my expertise and even made a joke about me cooking for him more often, until I reminded him about my scar on my arm.

We all had a good laugh and a really wonderful Christmas morning. As morning turned into afternoon, it was Silver's turn to cook, and he made some delicious dishes, as usual. My mother made some comment about it being good to know a man who could cook for you that I ignored, and Silver tried his best to hide a full on blush at the compliment. My parents loved to make jokes about me and him, which I tried my best to knock down since I didn't want any wrong ideas popping into their heads, or more importantly, Silver's.

Another beep brought me out of my memories, and I noted that the pizza was done. I carefully took it out of the oven, cut it, and delivered a few slices to Mom. Pepper had some pepperoni-his favorite, and I took a slice for myself. Yeah, it was Christmas, but things would never be the same, I had realized.

Thinking back on those days, I returned to my room after eating, and trying to lift the spirit in the house, grabbed my guitar, which had dust on it. This brought back another flash back. Later in the afternoon during that last Christmas, Silver borrowed my guitar and gave me some lessons. He even taught me a few Christmas songs, which surprised me since he wasn't "festive".

Looking at my guitar a two years later, I picked it up, tuned it, and began to play, letting the good memories resurface as I did so. Soon enough, I plugged into my portable amp, and the house rang of cheerful melodies, some that Silver taught me, some that I taught myself. This lasted until nightfall, when my hands were hurting, but my heart felt better than it had in a long time.

It'd be a while, but things would come together again. I'd find the joy I'd been missing since my untimely "death". And maybe, just maybe, someday I'd see Silver again, and we'd be friends again, and all the problems with Team Rocket, and just things going bad in general would fade. Maybe, just maybe, I had found the hope and strength I'd need for the days ahead; the days that seemed to only get darker as Team Rocket searched to find out if they really had "killed" me.

Even if I wasn't in the house I grew up in any longer, and even though we would be moving to New Bark Town in two months, it was time to say goodbye to the past. It was time for the age of Amber to end and time for me to pick up my alias, Wolfe. At least for the time being.

Very sorry it's been a while since I updated! I've been pretty busy with getting ready to move. I'll be moving in the middle of the month, so I'm not sure how erratic my posting shall be. Just know all of my chapters are already written, so no worries! I WILL get stuff posted!

Anyway, here's Wolfe's Intro. Pretty much nothing really important in it. It's sorta my "fluff" and contrast chapter. Kind of lets you get a feel for what my main protagonist is like before the story begins. I don't think many of my chapters are quite like this one, which is a good thing since I'm not all too happy with this thing, but I wrote it like...3? Christmases ago so I'm not really changing anything. And yes, Silver is totally in the "friend zone." -shrug-

And once again! I don't own any copyrights to Pokemon or anything. Umm...what else? Oh yeah, feel free to comment, but please no flames or anything. Uh...I think that's it. Man, I'm sleepy. Oh yeah, sorry if you spot any errors! I tried weeding them out, but I'm not perfect. If you see anything (aside from dialogue unless it's really something bad like misspelling) feel free to let me know!


	4. Chapter One - New Start in New Bark

**A Few Months Later...**

"Hey Amb—err, I mean Wolfe! Sorry, still not used to it. Morning sweetie!" replied my wide-eyed mother as I walked downstairs in our new home in the Johto region.

It had only been three days since we moved into the quaint town of New Bark known for its extremely windy weather, the windmills which produced most of the town's electricity, and the biggest landmark: Professor Elm's laboratory.

First off, I suppose I should explain a few things from the beginning-my original name is Amber. I'm nineteen years old going on twenty in a few months; up until a year or two ago, I was the Kanto region's top trainer. And as a side note, Kanto was my native region, not my current region, Johto. In Kanto, I was the Tri-Annual Indigo League champion as well as the ex-Champion of the Kanto Elite Four. I said ex since I gave the position back to the original owner of the title Lance, the Dragon Tamer, just as soon as I defeated him.

My father had been a police officer for practically all of my life, but a little over two years ago, he changed fields as a private investigator since he became a "dual agent"—more of that later. Since his change in occupation, he had been working undercover in the Kanto region sniffing out leads of a really rotten organization known as Team Rocket.

Over the past year or two, to put it bluntly, I had to move my mother around…A LOT…and, it was all thanks to my dad's job for the most part. After the last Team Rocket-related break in, we had to move her out of Kanto completely. But, that all worked to my advantage since we bought my mom a house in New Bark Town in Johto, which was the region I was assigned to with my own job, which will be explained later. Needless to say, Johto appeared to be peaceful at least—compared to Kanto. Of course, I knew better; my job said otherwise. Anyways, thanks to Team Rocket, my family had a pretty rough past year between work, break-ins, and other things that I personally had to tackle.

Here's Team Rocket in a nutshell: they were a very rotten organization that exploited Pokémon for profit. The used to work undercover in Kanto for years without any real notice. Their underground methods kept them off the police's radar, in any case. They got away with things such as a rigged casino—which had very low winning statistics and gave out extremely rare Pokémon for high prices. Anyway, it was all thanks to that Rocket Game Corner and a little experience from myself being an ex Team Rocket member that brought the organization to the public's attention.

From there, they dropped the whole covert operations thing entirely, daring anyone to stop them. Even their own head boss was the toughest Gym Leader of the entire Kanto region. Anyway, some friends and I fought and won against Team Rocket, though it really was hard work.

The boss, Giovanni, swore to me he'd disband the organization forever, and I believed him. Word of my final battle with Giovanni spread pretty quickly, and despite my efforts to stay away from publicity, I became the hero of Kanto and all of that good stuff.

If only things were really that simple. Team Rocket had returned just years later with a personal vendetta against the Kanto Police and myself. To put it frankly, it was as good as having a bounty on my head. No one was certain about just how strong the reforming organization was; no one could get close enough to find out. Infiltration proved to be impossible indeed since this time around, Team Rocket was playing a whole different ball game-extermination of anyone who got too close. With their return, Team Rocket was more like the mafia than ever since they not only killed plenty of good officers, but the entire families of those officers were wiped out as well.

That's where I came in. Thanks to the fact that I had once been a member of Team Rocket, and more importantly, thanks to the fact that I played a vital role in defeating them the first time around, I was sought out by the stealthy Kanto Operations Extermination Task Force. Since that was a mouthful, people in the know always called them the Kanto Ops, which I just shortened to: The Ops. The Ops were a secretive branch of the Kanto Police force, known to very few. I was shocked to find that my dad himself worked partly for The Ops, though he reported to both the Sheriff and The Ops' boss.

Anyway, The Ops desperately wanted my cooperation, so I decided to check it out. It was run by my old mentor, Darrius Surge, a young genius of a man who had been affiliated with the police since the age of fourteen. After realizing that if I joined The Ops I'd be able to help take down Team Rocket, I obliged to their requests. I sacrificed a good many things, but I was told it was for the greater good, and I really hoped that was the truth. And so, two long years later, I had my first solo mission as a secret agent of the Kanto Ops-find out if the rumors of Team Rocket operating in the Johto region were true.

Thanks to previous missions, I already had a pretty vivid grasp on how bad it actually was in Kanto: they had undercover control of pretty much the entire region, even if most people didn't even realize it. Anyway, back to the whole Team Rocket mafia business, the whole reason I moved my mother to Johto, aside from the fact that I was assigned to the region, was simply for the fact that Team Rocket wanted to exterminate her. After the last close call, which happened only a few weeks prior to us moving to Johto, Darrius found a house for her in New Bark Town. That way, at least I also had a home base if I needed one. Either way, I was headed to Johto; at least I got family to come with me this way.

Now, being in a secret bad ass organization similar to the military is just cool and all, and I actually liked the authority I had—and boy, did I have quite a bit of that—but not everything was just peachy keen. First off, like I mentioned earlier, my real name _was_ Amber. Note the _WAS_part in that. Since I joined the ranks, I was given an alias: Wolfe. At first the name was a real burden, but I acquired a reputation pretty quickly in The Ops as someone people didn't want to mess with, hence I was dubbed: Lone Wolfe by many of my "fans".

In addition to the alias, I had to have a totally new identity to go with it as well. Now, I was fine with that, even though it meant I had to totally adopt my alter ego. Really, it was fine. As Amber, my first mission was to frame my own death on Team Rocket. That in itself was a pretty hard task. I had to say good-bye the hard way to my very best friend, Silver. And to top it off, I had to split up my Pokémon team. None of them remained with me once I swapped identities. And that… well, it sucked, to put it honestly.

From there, once Team Rocket really thought they had taken me out—and thankfully, they were so disorganized that they thought it was their work. I had pretty much the works done on me to change my physical appearance. For starters, my lovely chestnut-colored hair was bleached almost a platinum blonde. I was also forced to grow it out, which I found to be a bother since normally I never let my hair grow past my upper back at its longest.

Of course, my hair and name were only the start of it. I had corrective laser eye surgery done so I didn't have to wear glasses any longer, but in the end, I still wound up wearing colored contacts. My sky blue eyes were a stately sea green as long as I kept those in, which was mandatory—even inside headquarters. I also had plastic surgery done on my face, which made it look pretty different. I didn't look like a little girl any more, to put it lightly. I looked like a serious young woman that didn't take much crap from people. And, after some fights I had gotten myself into, I pretty much fit that reputation well. Also, the physical training of The Ops made me a lot more fit.

Not saying I wasn't already fit, since after all, I pretty much lived on a mountain, and for anyone who knows mountain climbing, it's good exercise. Still, I was much more agile and nimble after my training, which was a real shocker since I used to be such a klutz. And, to put the icing on the cake, I grew almost another half foot taller, putting me at about three or four inches shy of six feet tall. And so, overall, voice aside, I was completely different. As for my voice, I did my best to alter it so I didn't sound exactly the same. My voice had gotten harsher since I had joined, especially after my first real mission, which was to say a big catastrophe.

Anyway, enough of my story for the time being. The previous night, in other words, about six hours before I walked down stairs on that bright day in New Bark Town, an idea struck me. Really, it was a brilliant one, though I was certain getting my mother to jump on the bandwagon would have probably have posed a problem. Any who, I figured that since I was in New Bark, I'd might as well stop by Professor Elm's place to get a new starter Pokémon. It would've been a good idea since technically, I had free reign to do whatever as long as I worked on catching Team Rocket without blowing my cover. I felt more comfortable with a Pokémon around, and even if it would start off untrained, I could fix that problem pretty easily. My only issue was passing myself off as a new trainer to the Pokémon, who I was certain would feel my experience of being a trainer for just about half my life.

As I walked down the stairs the rest of the way and hugged my mother good morning, I replied, "Morning Mom," with a pleasant smile. I then proceeded to the fridge, rummaged for some milk, found a glass, poured some, and silently offered some to my mother, which she shook her head no. Afterward, I replaced the milk carton, closed the refrigerator door, and turned back to my mother as I laxly drank a large gulp. "Hey, Mom. I was thinking of something. Please try to hear me out before you disagree, okay?"

She gave me the usual exasperated glare that naturally accompanied that phrase. I often said that, and it usually meant I was about to tell her something she'd object to, but she listened and replied, "Fine. What do you want to ask?"

"Well, I was thinking last night," I started off, "Since I'm fresh in the region and I have no pokemon… And since I'm already bored here and I feel like I need to do something productive, and I'm certain it's only a matter of time before I get cabin fever, AND since Professor Elm's lab is so conveniently close…" I trailed off.

"Are you out of your mind?!" she interrupted. "Wolfe! What on earth are you thinking?! Our lives are at risk, and you want to get a new Pokémon?!"

I glowered at her for not letting me finish. "Look at it this way, if you will. Our lives aren't at risk; we're in Johto. It'll help my new identity greatly if I could start off as a new trainer and travel around. And hey, who knows? I might just find myself a nice, juicy lead while I'm on the road. Besides, I've wanted to go to Johto for ages now. If Silver were here, he'd tell you that himself. I practically bugged him with that fact daily. I'd love to see what the gyms here are like."

I mean, back when I was a teacher at my own school, I often thought about traveling Johto anyway. Back then, I really thought about passing off my teacher role to Silver, but if he really wanted to accompany me instead, I wouldn't have objected. But, since Team Rocket got in the way, that dream seemed to go up in smoke, and yes, that was a very _bad _pun. But, since I was in Johto, and it seemed like I'd be there for a while, I didn't see why I couldn't make use of that opportunity. Sure, I couldn't use my old team since they'd give away my identity, but at least I could start fresh, which really didn't seem so bad.

"Oh, and I also want to compete in the Indigo League again this year, even if it's by a different name. I have a title to uphold, after all. And, to top it off, I'd be safer with a Pokémon by my side. Physical training's great, sure. I know how to fight, but I'd feel much safer with a Pokémon at my back," I added.

She sighed since she knew what I said was the complete truth. And, she knew she really couldn't stop me regardless. I was nineteen, after all. I had a very important job, and I got a paycheck for it, and even though I respected her, I was very headstrong. "Fine, but on one condition, if you don't mind," she replied.

"Yes?"

"You have to take your pokegear with you so I can call you. Also, if I were you, I'd have a background story ready. A nineteen year old beginner trainer isn't exactly something you see every day."

I smirked. I already knew I'd take along my pokegear. That was not an issue. Since I joined the Kanto Ops, Silph Company in Saffron City had developed a new device that really became popular quickly: the pokegear. It was a phone with video chat available, had access to the Internet, served as a radio if you had the correct upgrades, and it featured all sorts of other handy applications, such as a map with an included GPS feature. It really was a neat little device that I pretty much never went anywhere without. It was also very convenient since it fit on my wrist and it wasn't too large where it got in the way.

"Don't worry about that, Mom. I need my pokegear for work, anyway. How else do you think I'd contact Darrius? And besides, D already thought out my background story long ago. That's a non-issue," I reassured her.

"I guess that's fine. Just be careful okay? I still can't believe they are making you do this. Team Rocket is dangerous; you should know that firsthand. Just because Team Rocket thinks you are dead doesn't make you necessarily safe."

I sighed, "I know, I know. I promise I won't do anything stupid, okay?" I grinned. "And I want to do this; they aren't making me do a thing. I decided to join up; I decided to put my life on the line for this. It's something I believe in, and I'll see it through to the end. It's the least I can do. I want to move back home again to Kanto some day. And, I don't want them taking over Johto, so that's why I'm here. If another region falls, I don't want to even think of it," I replied doggedly.

My mother sighed again, "I know, honey. I'm just saying you've already sacrificed so much for this. You should have your own life at the age of nineteen. Friends, maybe even a boyfriend. I admire your courage, but still I can't help but worry about you. I'm your mother after all, and you've given me quite enough scares before."

I grinned deviously, "I promise I won't join Team Rocket this time, okay?" That was the truth. I didn't plan on infiltrating them from the inside-that was a tactic I would have used as Amber. No, as Wolfe, I did things quite a bit differently.

"I know you won't, unless your job requires it. Well, anyway, your father dropped off some stuff for you. I guess he figured you'd become a trainer again," she pursed her lips into a grimace. "Stay right there and I'll go get what he dropped off."

I waited while I tapped my foot impatiently. I knew my father knew me all too well. Sometimes I thought he knew me better than my mother, though thanks to the fact that we were both in The Ops more or less, he and I got to know each other very well over the two past years. I knew Dad would feel safer if I had a Pokémon by my side; even an untrained one would suffice.

My mother returned with a giant trash bag seemingly full of stuff. My father had always been so "tactful." My mother grinned as she undid the bag's knot. "Okay, close your eyes and open your hands. I'll hand you stuff one at a time."

I restrained myself from rolling my eyes since the whole surprise thing felt so childish, but I appeased her and did as I was told. I pretty much guessed the bag would hold trainer items, anyway.

"Okay, here's the first thing," she placed a light object in my hands. It was large as it spread across both my hands and then some. It felt like a backpack, and when I opened my eyes, I realized I was correct. It was a very nice looking trainer bag, I admitted. It was medium-sized, lightweight—although I guessed that was thanks to it being empty—made out of durable, waterproof material, and it even had my alias embroidered on the front in fancy black script writing. The bag itself was sky blue in color, which I found aesthetically appealing since it was my favorite color.

I smiled broadly as I checked out my new bag. Really, it was about time I upgraded anyway. My old bag was tattered, and I was actually a little relieved to burn it with the schoolhouse. The new bag had a large zipper compartment for storing clothes, a smaller compartment for trainer items, a pokeball pocket, a secret zipper to store money and cards, another pocket which turned out to be a berry pouch, and a final pocket which held a Technical Machine case, not like it'd do me any good since all my machines were lost in the multiple moving boxes scattered throughout the house, and I didn't feel like fishing them out.

My mother continued to fish items out of the bag; the next one was my dual trainer ID and badge case, which was the same color as my bag. At the top inside of the case I already found my ID, updated with my current photo and alias even. I was certain Dad got it for me himself, which caused me to grin. The bottom of the case held eight fitted slots, which I knew my Johto badges would fit nicely inside when I got them.

After that, the rest of the contents were pretty much basic trainer supplies. I was given five pokeballs, a few potions, a few Oran berries, new running shoes that were totally comfortable, and an updated map chip of the Johto region, which I immediately installed into my pokegear. My mother smiled at me broadly, "Well, on the bright side, at least one of us will have something to do now. I suppose you're going to Professor Elm's place now, right?"

"Yeah, but first I'm going to pack some clothes and money…" I trailed off as I realized I was flat out broke, which was rare for me. Most of my money was safely squirreled away in my savings fund.

"Hold up! I have some new clothes for you since none of yours are unpacked yet." My mother handed me a clothes box that I didn't even notice beforehand.

I opened the box; inside was a red short-sleeved shirt and a gray skull jacket that would fit nicely over it. Underneath was a pair of black skinny jeans, which I had taken to wearing since I changed identities. I grinned at my mother, "Thanks, Mom. These will definitely come in handy."

"So, you like?" she asked.

"Sure!"

She grinned in return, "I figured you would. I have another pair just like them so you can change into them once those are dirty. And no, your father didn't pick out your clothes. I know you won't go far with only two pairs, but you can do laundry at the Pokémon Center, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem."

I giggled, " I knew Dad didn't pick this out. If it were up to him, I'd be wearing stuff that made me look like a guy or something for boy repellent."

"Indeed, your father is protective. It's a shame; I think he was really warming up to Silver, too," she laughed in unison.

I sobered up and sighed, "Don't worry, Mom. As soon as I'm done bringing down Team Rocket, I'll make things are back to the way they used to be. And I'll make certain Silver will come around again. Just wait."

"I know you will, honey. I have faith in you. This house isn't bad, though I can't wait to return to our real home."

I nodded at my mother as I agreed. I then decided to bound up the stairs and into my room with my new clothes. I passed Pepper as I went, but he just ignored me. In my room, I changed and admired my new look in the mirror. I was still shocked how the girl looking back at me looked totally different from whom I felt like I was. Even though I played the role of Wolfe well, I was always Amber at heart. So, when I saw myself after my transformation, it always took me by surprise.

The girl in the mirror looked serious. Her sea green eyes gazed back into my own, and her mouth curved slightly upward in an amused thin line. Her blonde eyebrows gracefully arched upwards, and her long eyelashes batted playfully as I blinked. Her face was thin, with a small, yet prominent nose and strong jaw that jutted down slightly, though it didn't look bad. If anything, it gave her a commanding look, which is what I needed. Her messy platinum hair fell about her face, and her unruly bangs parted to the left, covering her eye slightly.

I grimaced, as the hair down just didn't look right with the new clothes, which hugged my body nicely. I had definitely filled out in all the right places, so to speak. As I tilted my head downward, I realized my roots were starting to show through my hair, and to top it off, the sun seemed to bleach the platinum a golden blonde in some spots, which meant I had highlights. It didn't look bad, though I did need to do a root touch up soon.

As for my skin tone, it was a few shades paler than I used to be. I used to be more of an olive, but now in the shadows, I was almost an ivory pale thanks to pushing papers a majority of the time instead of getting quality outdoor time. My arms definitely had some muscle to them, though I didn't fit the body-builder description in the least. I had to admit, I looked pretty good. Totally different. As Amber, I reminded myself of a child who never really grew up. My face back then resembled a kid's, which annoyed me since it wasn't exactly chubby, but it wasn't exactly as prominent either. As Amber, I never actually looked menacing, while as Wolfe, people knew to leave me alone.

I sighed as I put my hair into a messy ponytail, which looked better at least. My bangs still covered my left eye slightly, but I was used to that. I smirked realizing that I looked like a bad ass lady, who I supposed could pass off as a rocker. That was funny since at heart, I really was a rocker anyway-an old school one at that.

Despite my new appearance, I felt like a total fake. I didn't feel like myself every time I saw the new me in the mirror, and I doubted I'd ever feel totally comfortable as Wolfe. I didn't even know if I'd ever look like myself again, so I just let it slide. I decided to push my observations aside and packed my spare clothes into my new trainer bag.

I adjusted the straps on my bag, actually found a hidden stash of money that only I knew about, and left my room. I told my mother bye hastily as I set out the door and into the fresh, breezy late February day in New Bark Town.

Hello to all of my readers! Whether you've just started following this story or had been following since my previous submissions, I thank you sincerely for reading! Sorry if this is a bit boring, as it's another introduction, start up chapter, but the story is now under way! Things should get more exciting within the new few chapters!

And now for the redundant stuff: I don't own Pokemon. However, Wolfe, her mother, Darrius Surge, and The Ops are objects of my own creation and are claimed by me. I wrote this a few years ago, so please no flaming or anything. I appreciate everyone who reads! Next update should be next week, as I have to move out of my house this weekend. Stay tuned! =)


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